Hellworld (Deathstalker Prelude)

by Green, Simon R.

  Hunter felt like sighing deeply, but rose above it. “You must have noticed, Doctor, that it takes quite some time to set up a screen. I can’t see the alien waiting patiently while we do it, can you? And even if we could get the screen up before the alien could get to us, what would we do then? Just sit tight, and wait for it to lose interest and go away? No, Doctor, as a plan it’s not very practical. We’d do better to save the power in the screen’s energy crystals for real emergencies.”

  He broke off as he realised the doctor wasn’t listening to him. Williams scowled, bit his lower lip, and stopped dead in his tracks. Hunter and Krystel stopped with him. Williams looked slowly around him, his head cocked slightly to one side, as though listening to something only he could hear. Hunter listened, but everything seemed still and silent. He looked at the Investigator, who shrugged.

  “Something’s coming,” said Williams quietly. “I can hear it. And whatever it is, this time it’s not alone.” He turned slowly round in a tight circle, and the colour gradually went out of his face. “They’re all around us. Captain, I can hear things coming from every direction. All kinds of things.”

  “Be more specific,” said Krystel. “What exactly are you hearing?”

  “All kinds of things,” said Williams. His voice began to rise. “They’re getting closer. We’ve got to get out of here, while we still can. They’re coming for us!”

  “Take it easy,” said Hunter. “Investigator, can you hear anything?”

  “Nothing, Captain. But if his hearing is augmented…”

  “Yeah,” said Hunter.

  Krystel drew her sword. “I think we should find some cover, Captain. We’re too exposed out here.”

  “I think you’re right, Investigator.” Hunter drew his disrupter, and looked quickly about him. There were buildings all around, cloaked in shadows from the coming night, but none of them had obvious doorways. Over to his right, one of the buildings appeared to have been partially gutted by an explosion. Part of the street side had been torn away, leaving strands of metal like broken bones, and a jagged opening at the top of a small hill of rubble. Hunter started towards it, and the other two followed.

  Climbing the rubble of broken stone and metal proved easy enough, and Hunter paused at the top to take out his field lantern and turn it on. The pale golden light showed a vast, empty room beyond the opening. The walls were covered with a silver metal tracery, forming disturbing patterns that bordered on the edge of meaning. Hunter looked back at the street below. He still couldn’t see or hear anything, despite the extra height the hill of rubble gave him. He began to wonder if Williams hadn’t been overreacting and jumping at his own shadow. And then the first whisper of sound came to him, from somewhere far off in the distance. He spun round, and glared in its general direction. Far off in the gloom, something was moving. Hunter crouched down behind one of the large outcroppings of rubble. Krystel had already found some cover. Williams had drawn his gun, but was still standing in plain view, staring off into the gathering dusk with his adjusted eyes.

  “Oh, my God,” he said faintly.

  “What is it?” said Krystel. “What can you see?”

  “Someone has opened the gates of Hell,” said Williams. “And the damned are loose in the city.”

  Hunter shot a quick glance at Krystel, who just looked straight back at him. Hunter stared out into the dark, his breath steaming on the chill air. He felt even colder, now that they’d stopped moving. And then he caught his first glimpse of what was coming towards him, and a worse chill swept through him. A great tide of leaping, running, and crawling life came surging down the wide street, heading straight for the concealed Hell Squad; an endless flow of nightmares and monstrosities. There were things that walked on two legs and some that ran on four, and others that leaped through the air as though they were weightless. There were creatures with fangs and claws that snapped and tore at those around them. There were those who looked as though they’d somehow been horribly turned inside out, and some whose shapes made no sense at all.

  Giant insects crawled along the sides of buildings like beetles on a coffin lid. Twisted shapes flapped through the air. The aliens screamed and roared and chattered, and there were sounds that might almost have been human cries or laughter. They came surging out of the darkness without end, driven by some unimaginable goad, drawing closer all the time. Hunter looked at the city’s nightmares, and wanted to turn away and hide until they were gone. He couldn’t bear the sight of them. Their foul shapes and insane structures were an offence against his reason.

  But he couldn’t just run away and hide. He was the Captain, and he had to set an example. Even if he was so scared he could hardly think straight, and the old familiar panic was gnawing at his nerves, threatening to break loose at any moment. His breathing was short and hurried, and he could feel sweat beading on his face. He looked down at his disrupter and saw that his hand was shaking. He swallowed hard and fought back the panic. It didn’t matter that he was scared and couldn’t cope. He had to cope. There was no one else. He took a long, shuddering breath, and felt some of the tension go out of him. There was a certain comfort in knowing that the worst that could happen had already happened. At least the waiting was over and there were no more surprises to worry about. He brought his disrupter to bear on the surging mass of aliens. His hand was still shaking, but so slightly now that only he would know it. He grabbed Williams with his free hand and pulled him back behind some cover. Williams jerked his arm free and glared at Hunter. Hunter glared right back at him. There were times when he wondered if the doctor was trying to get himself killed.

  The aliens were fast approaching the hill of rubble, and for the first time Hunter was able to make out the true horror of their condition. None of them had a fixed form. Their shapes came and went like so many whims or fleeting memories, never the same two moments running. Flesh flowed on their bones like melting wax, sliding endlessly from one form to another. New eyes surfaced in the bubbling flesh, and new arms burst out of their heaving sides. Hunter was reminded briefly of the statues he’d seen on the open plain, depicting creatures made up of bits and pieces from various species, neither one thing nor another. Perhaps they had been meant as a warning after all.

  “Stand ready,” said Hunter. His voice sounded gratifyingly calm and even. “Dr. Williams, wait until they’re close enough for you to pick a specific target before you use your disrupter. Investigator, you’ve had the most combat experience. You take the point, and the doctor and I will guard your sides.”

  “Understood, Captain.” Krystel looked out over the milling horrors, and smiled unpleasantly. Hunter shivered. There was something horribly wild and eager about her smile. She might almost have been looking at an approaching lover.

  “We can’t stay here!” said Williams suddenly. “Look at them! They’ll be here any minute, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them. We’ve got to get out of here while we still can!”

  He scrambled away from his section of cover and headed for the opening in the wall. Hunter grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. “Don’t be a fool, Williams! How far would you get on your own? Stand fast, and guard the Investigator’s side. Or I swear I’ll cut you down myself.”

  Williams snarled at him, but remained where Hunter had put him. “We don’t have to stay here! We could still fall back into the building and barricade the hole with the force screen.”

  “We’ve talked this through before, Doctor. The screen would only last as long as its energy crystals permitted, and then it would collapse. By which time the aliens would undoubtedly have us surrounded. We’ll fall back into the building when we have to, and not before. Now activate your shield and stand ready. Company’s coming.”

  Williams turned away in disgust, and slapped his left wrist against his side. The glowing force shield appeared on his arm, murmuring quietly to itself. Hunter looked at Krystel. Her shield was already up. She was still grinning at the approaching aliens. Hunter drew hi
s Service dagger from his boot, hefted his gun once, and then activated his shield. The aliens were very near now. He moved forward a pace, so that he could guard the Investigator’s left side while still being comfortably close to his chosen piece of cover. It wasn’t much use as cover, if truth be told, but it would have to do. The Investigator stood in plain view of the aliens, looking strong and confident, as though cover was something only lesser mortals needed.

  She’s an Investigator, thought Hunter. Maybe she doesn’t need cover, at that.

  He looked out at the approaching aliens, and his heart missed a beat. They filled the street from side to side, for as far as he could see. There were monstrosities beyond counting, of every shape and size.

  This isn’t fair, thought Hunter bitterly. We’re not up to this. We’re just a Hell Squad. A full company of shock troops would have their work cut out here. We’re not fighters. Not really. We’re just rejects and walking wounded; the outcasts and the expendables.

  He took a deep breath and let it go. What the hell; maybe we’ll get lucky.

  The aliens were close now, the nearest only yards away. There were things like giant crustaceans, with huge pincer claws and staring eyes on the end of stalks. Their many-jointed legs clattered loudly on the street. As Hunter watched, one of the crustaceans suddenly swelled in size. Its carapace began to bubble and melt, and a pair of membranous wings burst out of its back. It threw itself into the air, its wings stretching impossibly wide as it soared towards the Hell Squad. Hunter took careful aim with his disrupter and fired. The searing energy beam hit the creature squarely in the lower thorax, and it exploded, scattering shards of broken chitin like shrapnel. The body fell into the alien horde, and they tore it apart. The separate parts writhed and twisted even as they were consumed. Those aliens that couldn’t reach the downed creature clawed and tore at each other. None of them died. They were beyond death now. The great device had seen to that.

  Giant centipedes clattered along the street, hundreds of feet long, their small bulbous heads nothing more than mouth and teeth. Maggots writhed in their flesh. Williams blew one in half with his disrupter. The two halves became separate creatures and pressed forward, driven by the same unrelenting determination that possessed the rest of the horde. Hunter wondered briefly what that drive was. It couldn’t be just hunger. Perhaps it was simply the Hell Squad’s normality, their fixed shapes, that drew the aliens like moths to a bright burning flame. Hatred? Regret? Hunter shook his head. Those were human emotions.

  The aliens came surging forward, and the Hell Squad met them with flashing steel. Multicoloured blood flew on the air as steel blades cut into shifting flesh, but still the aliens pressed forward. They could be hurt but not killed, and they were used to pain. Only their habit of turning on their own injured kept the monsters from overrunning the Squad.

  Hunter swung his knife with grim efficiency, protecting himself and guarding the Investigator as best he could. The razor-sharp edges of the force shield helped. On Krystel’s other side, Williams swung his sword as though it were weightless, and never missed his target. More augmentations; thought Hunter. He must be crammed full of implants from head to toe. He just hoped they were fully charged. Investigator Krystel was in her element. She swung her claymore double-handed, and the heavy blade sheared through the shifting flesh as though it was nothing more than mist or smoke. She was chanting something to the rhythm of her blows, in a harsh guttural language Hunter didn’t recognise, and her face was alive with an awful happiness. He looked away and concentrated his fear and anger on the aliens. His knife wasn’t doing much damage, but just the scent of spilled blood was often enough to send the surrounding creatures into a feeding frenzy.

  Hunter stepped back a pace to avoid an alien’s snapping mouth, and nearly fell as the rubble shifted suddenly underfoot. Regaining his balance with an effort, he used the flat of his shield to push the monster back. Its teeth clattered and broke on the energy field. Hunter tried to use the larger blocks of stone as cover, but his footing was too precarious now to allow for much movement. The alien tide broke ceaselessly against the foot of the hill, always pressing forward, no matter how many of them fell to the Squad’s weapons or each other’s hunger. And none of them died, no matter how badly they were hurt. Within the space of a few moments they rose unharmed from deadly wounds, and half-eaten bodies re-formed around shattered bones to fight again. Hunter felt a growing despair as he realised there was no way to win, no matter how well he fought. Sooner or later the undying aliens would drag him down, and if he was lucky, his death would be quick. He wondered briefly if he too would rise from the dead, to kill and be killed again and again, but his mind shied away from the horror of such a thought.

  The rubble lurched again under his feet, and then suddenly broke apart, great cracks running jaggedly across the hill. From underneath the shifting stones and metal came the sound of something huge, burrowing towards the surface. Translucent tentacles burst up out of the cracks, searching blindly for prey. Williams cried out, as much in shock as fear, and cut desperately at the tentacles with his sword. Krystel ignored them, her wild smile unchanged as she fought back the alien horde with unflinching determination. Hunter wavered for a moment, uncertain what to do for the best, or even if there was anything he could do. The glistening tentacles were whipping back and forth, and it was clearly only a matter of moments before they caught one of the Squad. Hunter stepped back a pace, his heart hammering against his breastbone as he crouched down behind his shield, and then he stuck his gun into one of the cracks and pressed the stud. The brilliant beam of energy stabbed down into the bulk of what moved under the hill, and the rubble heaved underfoot like a wild swell at sea, as the dweller below howled in agony.

  For a moment, everything seemed to stop as the horrid sound rose up out of the rubble, and then the tentacles snapped back into the cracks and were gone. The howl died away, and the horde pressed forward again. Krystel met them eagerly with her smile and her flashing sword. The keen steel edge sliced through reaching hands and tentacles, and punched through bones and cartilage like paper. A great crawling insect with bulbous eyes darted in under her reach, its razor-sharp mandibles snapping hungrily. Without slowing her attack, Krystel took her cigar out of her mouth and thrust the glowing end into one of the creature’s protruding eyes. The eye burst and the huge insect scuttled backwards, shaking its head violently, as though it could throw off the pain. Other creatures fell on it, and it disappeared under a heaving mass of hands and teeth.

  Hunter moved in close at Krystel’s side again, but he knew he couldn’t last much longer. His breathing was coming fast and uneven, and the cold air burned in his lungs. He was drenched in sweat despite the chill, and his back and arms ached from wielding the dagger and shield without rest. Krystel seemed as fresh as ever, but Hunter knew that even an Investigator’s training had its limits. Williams was beginning to slow down too. They had to fall back soon or they’d be overrun. But falling back could give the aliens the opening they needed. Damned if we do, damned if we don’t, thought Hunter sourly. And a better definition of a Hell Squad I never heard. More than that, there were creatures in the horde now that none of their weapons would be able to stop. There were glowing mists that hugged the ground, holding indistinct mouths that gnawed at the rubble. There were creatures of churning liquid that fell apart when their surface tension was broken, only to form and re-form endlessly. A sword or a gun could only do so much.

  Williams glanced back over his shoulder. The hole in the wall was only a few feet away now, but it might as well have been a few miles. If he turned and ran, some monstrosity or another would be sure to drag him down. But he couldn’t stay where he was. Only the speed and strength of his augmentations was keeping the aliens at bay, and the power in his energy crystals wasn’t endless. No, if he was going to make a run for it, he needed a distraction, something to draw the aliens’ attention away from him for the few seconds it would take him to reach the hole in the wal
l and safety. But what could distract the aliens? Perhaps only one thing; the one thing the aliens wanted so badly. A human death.

  Williams’ face went blank as the thought took hold. He needed Hunter and Krystel to protect him. And there was always the chance of his being found out. But in this confused press of bodies, who could blame him if a shot from his gun was to go tragically astray? No one would be able to prove anything; and surely it was better for one to die than all three. He glanced briefly at Krystel and Hunter. The Investigator’s skills and expertise made her an invaluable member of the Squad. Captain Hunter, on the other hand, was nobody special—just an authoritative voice. He wouldn’t be missed. Williams smiled slightly. It was all coming together. One shot in the back, and Hunter would go down. The aliens would fight over his body, and he and the Investigator could seize the moment to get away. Perfect. Williams kept the aliens at bay with his sword and shield, waited for just the right moment, and then aimed his disrupter at Hunter’s back. He never saw the wide-winged creature that swept down towards him, claws extended.

  The first Hunter knew of it was when he heard Williams scream. He glanced round, startled, and saw the winged thing struggling to lift Williams into the air. The alien had a long, leathery body and great membranous wings, but Williams was still writhing and struggling, despite the claws sunk deep into his body. The alien finally lurched into the air with its captive. Williams’ blood fell across the horde of monstrosities, and they went mad at the taste and smell of it. They reached up for Williams, their arms and necks stretching impossibly. Krystel grabbed Hunter’s arm and urged him towards the hole in the wall while the horde was distracted. He hesitated, but one look was enough to show him there was nothing he could do to save Williams. The winged thing had dropped too low under the doctor’s weight, and the horde dragged it down and pulled Williams away from it. He was still struggling and screaming as the horde tore him apart.